A modern monolithic patinated bronze sculpture on marble base titled "Upright Motive: Maquette No. 4" by Henry Moore. Name plaque and dated 1955 on base. Original gallery and auction stickers on bottom. According to the Henry Moore Foundation, this sculpture was cast in an edition of nine (plus one artist's copy) by the Fiorini foundry in London in 1955. In 1954 Moore was commissioned to di a sculpture for the courtyard of the Olivetti building in Milan. Although the project was never realized, the maquettes which Moore created became the impetus for the upright motive series. Moore explained, "A lone Lombardy popular growing behind the building convinced me that a vertical work would act as the correct counterfoil to the horizontal rhythm of the building... I started by balancing different forms one above the other -- with results rather like North American totem poles -- but as I continued the attempt gained more unity and also perhaps became more organic" (April 1965). A similar sculpture, Upright Motive, Maquette No. 1 1955: Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore Sculpture and Drawings - Volume 3: Sculptures 1955-64, revised 2nd edition, Lund Humphries, London 1986, LH 376, p. 21, illustrated (another cast). From a private collection; purchased from Sotheby's, New York, 1998. Dimensions: 12.25"h x 5.5"w x 3.75" (with base). In very good vintage condition. Henry Moore (1898-1986) is known as one of the most significant British sculptors of the 20th century. In the 1930s he had numerous commissions and exhibitions and was gaining a reputation as an avant-garde sculptor. By the 1950s, his name was known internationally, and he created the Henry Moore Foundation in 1977 to further support the arts. Moore is most famous for his mother-and-child reclining figures with pierced or hollow spaces. Today, his art is in countless institutions across the globe, as well as many public spaces internationally.

12.25 x 5.5 x 3.75 in